" So a man might say that the
felicity and delicacy of princes and great persons had long since
turned to rudeness and barbarism, if the poverty of learning had not
kept up civility and honour of life; but without any such
advantages, it is worthy the observation what a reverent and
honoured thing poverty of fortune was for some ages in the Roman
state, which nevertheless was a state without paradoxes. For we see
what Titus Livius saith in his introduction: Caeterum aut me amor
negotii suscepti fallit aut nulla unquam respublica nec major, nec
sanctior, nec bonis exemplis ditior fuit; nec in quam tam sero
avaritia luxuriaque immigraverint; nec ubi tantus ac tam diu
paupertati ac parsimoniae honos fuerit. We see likewise, after that
the state of Rome was not itself, but did degenerate, how that
person that took upon him to be counsellor to Julius Caesar after
his victory where to begin his restoration of the state, maketh it
of all points the most summary to take away the estimation of
wealth: Verum haec et omnia mala pariter cum honore pecuniae
desinent; si neque magistratus, neque alia vulgo cupienda, venalia
erunt.
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